Public to be asked views on Buncrana Road dualling

The Department of Infrastructure is to host an event in Derry over the coming weeks to showcase plans to dual the busy Buncrana Road from Pennyburn Roundabout to the border at Bridgend.

New traffic surveys to help develop a junction strategy for the A2 route have now been completed.

A public consultation day will be held in the city shortly, with an exhibition displaying and summarising the work undertaken to date, and details of the emerging design and next steps.

The £60m project was first proposed back in 2005 and the first public consultation on widening the road took place a decade ago. Following concerns over delays to the project, there have been fresh developments over recent years.

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson told the ‘Journal’ yesterday: “Last year the Department appointed engineering consultants to assist with development of a scheme to upgrade the A2 Buncrana road between Pennyburn roundabout and the border with County Donegal, a distance of approximately 4kms.

“The scheme objective is to provide a four lane carriageway and reconfigure the junctions to reduce congestion and rat-running by improving journey time reliability along this section of the trunk road network.”

She added: “Traffic surveys to assist the development of a junction strategy have been completed and environmental surveys are ongoing.

“The next step will be to hold a public consultation day to invite comments and hear the views of the public and affected landowners on the emerging preferred junction strategy.

“Public notices will be posted in the local papers confirming where and when the information day will take place.”

Details of the public consultation event are expected to be confirmed shortly.

Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion earlier this week said the Buncrana Road needed to see major improvement works in the same vein as other key road networks entering the city. “This could be a key economic enabler for the city,” she said, adding that the proposed upgrade “would open up improved access to strategic sites in the city such as the Science Park at Fort George, and extending into the north west gateway development sites on the Buncrana Road”.

“Already we have had significant movement on the A6 and progress on the A5 and we now need the A2 redevelopment to be taken forward as well,” the Foyle MP added.